Angels & Demons Tour through Rome

In the footsteps of Dan Brown's best-selling novel

Since Dan Brown's latest best-selling book "Angels & Demons", the still existing secret society of the Illuminati has gained popularity worldwide. With the adaptation of the bestseller in 2009, we could experience the thrilling chase through the Eternal City in search of the Church of Illumination in a visually stunning film. This is reason enough to visit the original places and discover for yourself the mysterious symbols that allegedly show the way to the Church of Illumination.

ZAINOO shows you the scenes of "Angels & Demons"

Because the locations in Dan Brown's book are spread across the city of Rome, this tour leads, for reasons of simplicity, not chronologically according to the movie, but from site to site to minimize on walking time. With an appropriate visit of the individual sites, you should take a full day’s time in each case to enjoy the tour. A preliminary reading of the book or the movie does not hurt of course, and makes the trip even more exciting.

We start our tour at St. Peter's Square at the obelisk in the centre. Here you can find the bottom plate "West Ponente" as a tribute to the element "air". Cardinal Lamassé is murdered here by punctures to his lungs.

Along the Tiber river, you are now on your way to the Palace of Justice and over the bridge to the Piazza Navona. Here you will find the Four Rivers fountain as a tribute to the element "water", where Cardinal Baggia is drowned. The stone pigeon on the top is the emblem of the Pamphili family. While Professor Langdon is able to save the Cardinal in the film, he barely escapes alive in the book.

From the Piazza Navona you walk further to the Pantheon. Here Professor Langdon tries to find the demon’s hole at Rafael's grave. He recognizes that he must not look for Rafael's grave, but a grave which was created by Rafael and rushes to the church of Santa Maria del Popolo.

Our tour first leads to the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria. In the local Cornaro Chapel Cardinal Guidera is burned as a tribute to the element "fire." Even Colonel Olivetti dies here at the hands of the assassin. The church itself is a small single-nave basilica, but is considerably enlarged in the film to have enough space for the scene. In the Cornaro chapel on the left side of the high altar, the angel is perched with the golden spear.

By metro from "Barberini" or "Repubblica" or on a short walk the tour leads to the Piazza San Popolo and to the church Santa Maria del Popolo. The demon’s hole is located in the Chigi Chapel (left), the only tomb created by Rafael. Cardinal Ebner is suffocated here as a sacrifice to the element "earth".

Now you follow the river Tiber down to the Castel Sant'Angelo, where the alleged Church of Illumination is located. The "Passetto", the escape route, connecting the Vatican to the castle also ends here.

The tour finally ends in the Vatican, in St. Peter's Basilica itself. The grave of St. Peter is unfortunately not open for the public, but you have a good view of the entrance area where the Camerlengo burns himself.

After this tour, you honestly deserve a rest in one of the restaurants or cafes in Rome. Fans of symbology can take a closer look and find clues and signs for various secret societies at many places in Rome.